Blunkett's bouncers raise alarm

The Sussex branch of the Police Federation said: "It is actually a lot darker than that."

Under Home Secretary David Blunkett's new five-year plan the extra police community support officers (PCSOs), known as "Blunkett's bouncers", will provide street patrols to tackle low-level crimes and anti-social behaviour.

But Graham Alexander, spokesman for the federation's Sussex branch, said: "There may be some merit to PCSOs on a small scale but it seems to me we have leapt from what was an experimental initiative to something much more sweeping.

"The Government is being disingenuous to officers and one day the public will wake up and wonder what happened to their police service. It is being dismantled."

The federation and other critics are concerned PCSOs will ultimately be given greater policing powers at a time when the public really wanted more regular police officers.

But Sussex Chief Constable Ken Jones said PCSOs were raising policing profile on the streets and providing reassurance to the public.

He said: "They are an addition to the police family in exactly the same way as scenes of crime officers, traffic wardens, controllers and so on are.

"There is no real prospect of filling this reassurance gap with trained and warranted police officers."

PCSOs, he said, were in addition to, not a substitute for, trained and empowered officers.

Sussex has more than 200 PCSOs, one of the highest numbers outside London.

Assistant Chief Constable Nigel Yeo said: "PCSOs are complementing and supporting regular officers by addressing quality of life issues that do not require the experience or powers held by police officers and which often take them away from more appropriate duties.

"The public have told us they want to see visible and accessible foot patrols and the introduction of PCSOs has given us the opportunity to help provide this. By the summer we should have 224 PCSOs, a major expansion."

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